Convention was 10,000 strong this year

You read that right, 10,000! Each year the national church association, MEBSH, that RMI partners with holds its annual convention for its members. As many as possibly can make it crowd into the the little village of Simon (a suburb of Cayes) where the mission center and MEBSH’s headquarters is located. The Simon church (which seats only 4,000) takes on the challenge to erect palm tree board benches, thatched roof shade coverings, tarps, tents and whatever else needs to be done to host the Convention. The church is painted, fans, lights and speakers are repaired or new ones installed, decorations are hung and the yard is cleaned. [Below benches are being built beside the main building.]

Special speakers are invited, choirs in MEBSH churches practice and meetings are planned well in advance. Starting Wednesday evening, the sessions go all day Thursday, Friday, Saturday until Sunday mid-day. 5 a.m. prayer meetings, 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. - doesn’t matter which meeting you go to, it’s literally standing room only! Church leaders, pastors, deacons and members are there to fellowship and be enriched by the many speakers and special choirs and singing.

If you miss a meeting, don’t worry because it is aired on the radio, TV and live stream online! It’s ok if you’re sitting outside because there are speakers set up everywhere and set on the highest volume setting while the projection screens set up capture everything there is to see on the inside. Extra lights are strung for night time, too. [Amazing technological advances are being made in Haiti!]

The streets surrounding the church become so crowded that they are impassible. Small booth after small booth is set up as vendors use the opportunity to sell food, snacks, books, clothing, shoes, household supplies, toys and all manner of sundry items. It takes on a street fair atmosphere. Old friends reconnect and groups of people from the outback of Haiti use this opportunity to see some of the “big city” sights and sounds and go shopping. [Below are pictures of the vendors just beginning to set up. Soon the streets with be wall to wall people!]

Thousands of people arrive by bus, on foot, motorcycle, bicycles, in cars, on horseback – any way they can get there. In a matter of hours the population of Simon more than quadruples.

People stay with friends or friends of friends, in school buildings (school isn’t in session during those days), camp out in smaller local churches, sleep on church benches, anywhere they can find to lay their heads. The congregation of the Simon church open their homes to sometimes dozens of people they don’t even know.

They all wear their Sunday best and make sure they have their Bibles and songbooks. Who cares if its stifling hot?! They are there for the encouragement and enrichment from God’s Word. But don’t leave your seat! It won’t be there when you get back! If you feel ill the Red Cross has it’s own tent set up and the MEBSH hospital is literally right around the corner.

Personal space? Not here! Claustrophobia? Nope, it’s close fellowship – unless you are a Westerner. 10,000 people in that small space is a phenomena to see and experience. It is a real microcosm of Haitian culture.

RMI President, Dan Shoemaker, was in Haiti last week before Convention started and was asked to stay an extra day so he could greet the people during the opening service along with several past presidents of MEBSH. It was a great honor for him! Some of those men graduated from Bible School when his dad was the Bible School Director and knew him as a kid, then as a missionary and now as RMI President.

Here is a report that was written Sunday, April 22, by another missionary:

Subject: report on the MEBSH convention

I thought the Haiti Alumni would be interested in a little report on the 76th Annual Convention of the MEBSH, that ended this morning. I estimated about 10,000 people there this morning--inside and very crowded all around the Simon tabernacle. The five-day convention featured some very strong biblical preaching--messages of encouragement and hope as well as pointed challenges to faith, holiness and consecration specifically directed at Haitian cultural trends. I thought Pastor Bresil's message on Thursday afternoon was particularly poignant. It was a great encouragement to have such a long-standing respected leader of MEBSH present and preaching the Word of God.

In addition to this, the MEBSH official workers meeting on Wednesday morning featured two speakers from the Féderation Protestante d'Haïti who challenged the pastors to have a more prophetic ministry in society. The coordinator, Edouard Paultre, addressed four key areas: justice, integrity, good governance and the environment. Then a man named Pastor Valery spoke on the roles and characteristics of the O.T. prophet and how pastors today fill that role. I was incredibly excited to hear this kind of development in the Christian community and found their presentation very consistent with the OT Prophets class that Steve Buerer and I taught last spring at the Bible School.

MEBSH's leadership is becoming more decentralized under Pastor Alneve's administration. They are working on establishing a MEBSH office in Port au Prince besides the one at Cité Lumière. Although they have had regional directors for a long time, they specifically ordained them this morning with more of a sense of leadership, rather than just logistical purposes. Chavannes Jeune is the regional director for MEBSH churches outside of Haiti, which currently includes the DR and Sint Marteen. One of my former students is the new pastor at St. Marteen.

There were some new leadership positions established. Jean Admettre is the new general administrator/coordinator of institutions, besides continuing as Intitut Biblique Lumière/Faculté Théologique Evangelique Lumière (IBL/FTEL) director. Jean Chery is the director of the Evangelism department and Thomas Plaisimond the director of the education department (overseeing MEBSH's 364 primary schools and 39 secondary schools). Both Pastors Chery and Plaisimond are new FTEL graduates. Also, Napoleon Lusson was named the vice-chancellor of Université Lumière, where Chavannes is the rector.

The current and ex-presidents of MEBSH formed their own commission to pray for the political leadership of Haiti, including the current and living ex-presidents of Haiti (Duvalier, Manigat, Aristide, Preval, Martelly) and to resolve to be upright examples of leadership to the country. The living presidents of MEBSH are: Bresil St. Germain, Chavannes Jeune, Pelege Pierre, Luders Erase and Alneve Emile. All were present except Pastor Pelege. Pastor Alneve remarked this morning that only in the Gospel can you have four presidents together and not have any problems!

It is my passionate conviction that church leaders profoundly transformed by the gospel are the real hope for the inner change needed in Haiti's society. I am thrilled to be able to work with a devoted team of Haitian and foreign teachers to be tools in the Lord's hands for this good work. I am asking all of your "readership" to pray for us, that we will have the Lord's focus, His love and power, and the team that He desires to assemble.

Gratefully yours,
Sean & Heather Christensen, Worldteam missionaries (professor at the Bible School)

We thought you’d enjoy a little insight into the biggest happening on MEBSH’s and your Sister Church’s calendar!

Partnering together: Awana and RMI

Today 50+ pastors from Les Irois, Dame Marie, Tiburon, Chambellan, Baraderes and many other Sister Churches as well as pastors from outside of MEBSH attended a seminar at the Mission Center in Cayes to learn about Awana International’s initiative for Haiti using their new international model. They are starting in southern Haiti with RMI as their key in-country partner. Awana hopes to have 50 clubs by the end of the year.

Pastors are excited to get something like this into their churches as an effective way to disciple and minister to the children in their congregations. Besides hit or miss VBS and traditional Sunday School classes, they’ve had no other tools in their hands for children. Think of what this means to these pastors! And think of what it will mean to hundreds of children!

RMI Prez, Dan Shoemaker, Awana International Executive Director, Brian Rhodes (pictured below) and 3 others are there this week to speak with church leaders as well as facilitate today’s seminar. There are exciting days ahead as this ministry opportunity blossoms!

Where language limits

“Where language limits, hugs and smiles take over.”

This is my favorite quote from an evaluation sent in by a team member who recently went to Haiti for the first time. I love it! Love transcends culture. Relationships are built despite the differences and language barriers. That is what RMI is all about. It is a part of our DNA.

RMI’s evaluation form is now online and easier than ever to complete. We want to get better at what we do, but need your feedback to help us know where we need to tweak things or make changes for the better. And of course we want to hear what the trip meant to you!

If you have been on a team, we would love to hear from you. You’ll find the evaluation HERE.

Cool idea of the week

1st Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church of Gastonia, NC went to Haiti last month for their first visit to their Sister Church in Sous Baptiste. They had 4 unique ideas that we thought you might find helpful:

1. Poster – they developed this glossy, 12” X 18” poster that they posted around the church buildings and in each Sunday School classroom in the weeks prior to their trip. They raised money for 120 Bibles, 120 songbooks, 45 boxes of food aid, 450 Bible storybooks and even had enough money to support 3 kids in school! I’d say that it was pretty effective!

2. Group prayer card – Not only were the name of the team members on it, but the back listed specific prayer requests. Each team member were given a stack of the cards to share with their friends, co-workers and family.

Cool idea to keep the team members going, the place, date and requests in front of people!

3. These zippered canvas bags were embroidered with “Sisters in Christ” in French and English. The team sold them to the ladies to the ladies’ group at 1st ARP. They raised enough money to pay for the bags. The Haitian ladies were “tickled pink” with the bags. They are large, zippered, sturdy yet a pretty bright color that they’ll enjoy. Ladies on both sides of the ocean now have matching bags to use!

4. Banner – Written in English and French, this colorful banner is seen in the team’s prayer card. They presented it to the church and hung it while they were there. Shown are both church’s pastors.

Good job 1st ARP!

We’re always looking for new ideas to share with other churches! Send any ideas to Debbie Shoemaker at debbie.shoemaker@rminet.org

A visit with Jules

Jules was very surprised when Dan showed up at his door in Haiti last week. He was all smiles and so excited to see his best friend there to spend time with him. Jules and his wife, Martha, have been in a Haiti for a couple of months between his cancer treatments for a visit. He is in quite a bit of pain all of the time but is holding his own. They will return to Boston to resume his treatments in April.

Martha made a wonderful fish dinner for Dan for one meal and they had a special time of fellowship. Despite his pain, Jules still maintains his smile and positive attitude. It was such an encouragement to him to spend some time with Dan.

For those of you who are not aware, Jules was one of our first coworkers more than 20 years ago. His faithfulness and loyalty always amazed us. RMI is where it is today because of his tireless work. He seemed to always know the right person to get something done. During one of our visits to the US, our storage garage was broken into and Dan’s motorcycle was stolen. Jules sprung into action and, acting as a detective, within 2 weeks literally tracked it down to the thief’s house in the mountains of northern Haiti. He arrived at the thief’s house with the police in tow to arrest the man and recover the bike.

He has been a good friend to the Shoemaker family as well as an indispensible colleague. Pray for him! Pray that he would be relieved of the pain in his stomach and lower back and pray that he would be encouraged in the midst of some very difficult circumstances. Martha would appreciate your prayers as well as she cares for Jules in addition to caring for the affairs of their household.

Hope for Kidz changes–pardon our dust

Change is inevitable. It’s not necessarily fun, is most often disruptive and stressful, can be messy but it is still a part of life and thus inevitable. This is the case at RMI currently. We are undergoing a few changes so, please pardon our dust!

Internal Dust

We are in the process of changing our donor management database. The process has indeed been disruptive, stressful and messy, not to mention it’s taking quite a bit longer than we thought. The RMI US staff has been tirelessly working to get the changes finalized. It is mostly an internal change, but you will notice it in the receipts you receive as well as our increased ability to keep you up to date on the latest happenings at RMI.

Haiti Field Dust

The Haiti field is undergoing changes as they work to reposition current staff, hire additional qualified personnel in a number of positions and re-organize our scheduling calendar to accommodate more teams. It’s stretching everyone!

Hope for Kidz Dust

Hope for Kidz is going through a major change as well. This new donor management database now gives us the capacity to offer monthly child support payments. Because of this you can now either send in your full support in one lump sum or in monthly payments. RMI trusts that this new option will enable people who might not be able to afford a lump sum one-time payment to be able to now sponsor a child for the first time.

New Pricing Structure

While making this option available, RMI also analyzed their current sponsorship rate. The basic Hope for Kidz sponsorship amount has stayed at $200 for approximately 7 years (not including the $50 increase to help fund the hot lunch program). In recent years, Haiti has been impacted by global inflation even more so than the US. This inflation has dramatically impacted the costs associated with education such as tuition rates, entrance fees, school supplies, etc. Because RMI does not want to limit any child in their access to a quality Christian education, the decision was made to change the sponsorship rate from $250 a year to that of $28 per month.

New Monthly Rate: $28 per month

Start Date: March 2012 for the 2012-2013 school year

Transitioning to Monthly Payment Plan

The first monthly payment needs to be made by March 2012. This will ensure that RMI has the resources available to provide for all your child needs to start school in September/October.

How to Transition to the Monthly Payment Plan:

Option 1: Fill out an automatic recurring payment authorization form and return to RMI (available from your Hope for Kidz coordinator or the RMI website)

Option 2: Renew online HERE (available after March 5)

Option 3: Call the RMI Office at 239.368.8990 to set up recurring monthly payments.

Option 4: Send monthly check directly to RMI at 5475 Lee Street, Suite 301, Lehigh Acres, FL 33971. Your child’s name and ID number MUST be included!

New Benefits for Sponsors

· The ability to spread sponsorship payment out over a full year via the monthly plan

· The opportunity to send and receive 1-2 letters per year to their child. This has been something that many sponsors have desired and we are now able to accommodate

· Additional opportunities for interaction with their sponsored child are continuing to be examined and evaluated for possible future implementation

Continued & New Benefits to the Sponsored Child

· Continued provision of a quality Christian education

· Continued provision of needed school supplies

· Continued expansion of hot lunch program (currently feeding over 2,600 children in 12 schools each day)

· New Community Health Training Program in the schools starting with Annual De-Worming and Prevention Education

· Establishment of a new Emergency Major Medical Needs Fund for sponsored children: Continued provision of a quality Christian education

· Continued provision of needed school supplies

· Continued expansion of hot lunch program (currently feeding over 2,600 children in 12 schools each day)

· New Community Health Training Program in the schools starting with Annual De-Worming and Prevention Education

· Establishment of a new Emergency Major Medical Needs Fund for sponsored children

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Q. When do I need to start paying in order for my child to be enrolled in school in the fall of 2012?

A. In order for the start-up costs to be covered by the beginning of school, the first monthly payment must be made by March 2012.

Q. How do I know if I will have the same child for the 2012-2013 school year?

A. Unless your child graduates or leaves the program, you can be assured that you will be continuing on with the same child. In the unlikely case that your child has graduated or left the program, RMI will work with you to provide you with a new child. Should your child not continue in the program and you do not choose to take on a new child, any funds received up until that point will be applied to the Hope for Kidz Program.

Q. When will my child’s new profile arrive?

A. New profiles will be distributed through your Hope for Kidz coordinator by August 2012 at the very latest.

Q. Can I still pay annually?

A. Yes. The annual cost is $336 per year. However, RMI is offering a special introductory offer of $300 for the 2012-2013 school year if payment is received by June 30, 2012.

Q. What if my financial situation changes and I am unable to fulfill my sponsorship commitment?

A. RMI will assume that you will be continuing your sponsorship of your child for as long as the child is available for sponsorship unless you indicate otherwise (a minimum of 12 months commitment). If your financial situation changes, please contact RMI as soon as possible. We would ask that you give us three months lead time before cancelling payment. This will enable us to find another sponsor for your child if at all possible.

Q. Who can I contact if I still have questions?

A. If you have questions that your Hope for Kidz Coordinator is unable to answer, contact Amanda at the RMI Office in Florida at amanda.biser@rminet.org or 239.368.8390.

Webinair Available

Amanda Biser, Hope for Kidz US Coordinator, recently hosted a 25 minute webinar explaining these changes. If you are interested, it can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/amandabiser/hope-for-kidz-monthly-sponsorship-transition.

Ministry is an action verb

Ministry around RMI is an action verb. If you wonder what goes on from day to day, in addition to preparing for, receiving and caring for teams, take a look at Gary McLaughlin’s Facebook page.

Feb. 24: “Saturday I put in 2 BioSand Water Filters, Monday 6 with to Haitian helpers and today going to do at least 3 more in the Picot area. Take a break at the water falls while in that area. :-) Marilyn is working on HFKz like always.”

[Left: Gary with one of the biosand recipients. Right: Another family with their biosand filter installed in their Homes for Haiti home.]

Feb. 23: “Tuesday we got 4 more water filters put in Haitian homes and yesterday, after working hours, I got another filter installed. First 45 almost finished and getting ready to bring out the next 30.”

March 2: “Yesterday Marie France and I delivered a refrigerator, 50 French Bibles and 50 Kreol Bibles to Astruc and then drove to Lievre to deliver 48 songbooks, 50 French Bibles and 50 Kreol Bibles. All gifts from their sister churches in the US. Today we are driving to Cherette to hand out clothes sent in by their sister church.”

[Left: Children modeling their new clothes from their Sister Church. Right: The Women’s Group modeling their new clothes!]

March 2: “Waiting for Our Savior's Lutheran from Lake Owego, Oregon to arrive at our guest house. Maybe around 3pm our time.”

A team from The Summit Church in Little Rock, Arkansas just left today and a team from Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Lake Oswego, Oregon is going in today. When they leave Trinity Bible Church, Lafayette, LA comes in and a week later The First Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church of Gastonia, NC is going in for their very first visit. In addition to this a family will be visiting the field for 2 weeks as they consider serving there with RMI.

Oh, and Dan will be in Merritt Island, FL, Chicago, Haiti and the Carolinas this month. Stay tuned for other happenings in RMI – we’re not quite ready to unveil them yet but you’ll like it! Yes, ministry is indeed an action verb here at RMI. There are no idle hands around here!

Guess who stopped the RMI office?

We love to be surprised! Long time supporters and friends, Dave and Julie Antioho from the Chicagoland area (Village Church of Bartlett and back in college days, The Orchard Church) stopped by for a visit while they were on vacation in the area.

They have been supporters and friends of Dan and Debbie Shoemaker and RMI since their college days. Dave was in Dan and Debbie’s wedding (29 years ago next month!). We had a great time showing them the office, sharing how RMI is doing and catching up to date with one another’s kids.

Who else will stop by? Are you coming to Southwest Florida for business or vacation? Make plans to visit us!! Come see the hub of RMI’s activities and ministries.

Tis the season for missions conferences!

February is the month many churches have their missions conferences. RMI has 3 conferences they will be represented in here in Southwest Florida.

Feb 1 - 5 McGregor Baptist Church, Dan & Debbie Shoemaker’s and Kim Rose’s home church.

Feb. 19 - 26 Westminster Presbyterian Church, Amanda Biser’s home church. She’ll actually be speaking on Feb. 17 and 19.

Feb. 26 Estero United Methodist Church, a Sister Church.

Here’s a sneak peak at our re-designed display.

Pray for these churches and conferences as they challenge people to consider how God could use them. Pray also that these conferences gains us good exposure and possibly contacts of folks who might be interested in pursuing a career with RMI. We really need more feet on the ground!!

Amy Long is making a transition

RMI field missionary, Amy Long, is transitioning from a 2 year term to being a full time missionary and could use your prayers as she raises additional funds to make that happen. Here is her prayer card.

Gary & Marilyn McLaughlin’s Prayer Card

RMI field missionaries, Gary & Marilyn McLaughlin’s prayer card is a good reminder to do exactly that…remember to pray for them and the vital ministries they do for RMI & the Haitian people!

New Rob Thompson family prayer card

RMI Field missionaries, Rob and Becky Thompson, have a new prayer card. Wow, have their children grown!

Volunteers and visitors from afar

Bud and Dolly journeyed from far away Michigan to help us out here at the RMI office!

(Actually they are Kim Rose’s parents!! They left the snowy north to visit Kim and Barb in the sun.) They came in to help stuff, seal and prepare the year end receipts. Where would we be without our volunteers?!

Charlotte Zegers and Tom and Shirley Crick are local volunteers who have been immensely helpful!! They stuff, seal and prepare special mailings, label theBridge and get it ready to mail, collate and assemble RMI’s Orientation Training manuals. There is quite a bit of behind the scenes work that is essential to the running of the RMI office. Thank you all so much for your willingness to give your time and effort – what a service (and always done with a smile)!!

Friends of RMI, Jim & Ruth Hill, of Michigan, stopped by for a visit and to see the office in August of last year.

We love to have our friends stop by for a visit when they are in the area for vacation, spring break or whenever!!

If you are in the area or just passing through, give us a call and come on by. We would enjoy seeing you.

RMI’s VP of Operations, Kim Rose

A key to RMI’s day to day operations is Kim Rose! Here is his prayer card.

An Immediate, yet Eternal Community Wide Investment…

Estero United Methodist Church has made a huge impact, not only for today, but for years to come in their Sister Church partnership community, Cherette, Haiti. The immediate and eternal return on this investment is simply immeasurable. It’s truly Hope for Haiti.

Several years ago, a team of leaders, movers and shakers arrived in Haiti for their first Sister Church visit with Reciprocal Ministries International and made some observations. Their Sister Church was making every effort possible to build and have a school. Yet, the Haitian church found that it was exceedingly difficult to do all that they dreamed with so few resources. They had made progress personally, but their dreams were still far off in the uncertain distant future. There were “rough beginnings”, but much was yet to be done. Along came their brothers and sisters at Estero United Methodist Church. Led by God, with heart, with compassion, with guts they sought out to raise the significant funding to make it all happen.

Today, here in Cherette, Haiti, there is a fully functioning school. 9 equipped school rooms. A roof. Permanent blackboards. More than 80 school benches. All the teachers have their own desks, and chairs! There are security doors as well! 100% built with local Haitian workers. The hot lunch program (every child get’s a hot nutritious lunch every school day) through Hope for Kidz is in full swing. More children are now attending the school. They have added a secondary school in the afternoon, and even an adult domestic training center in the afternoons to teach adults sewing and cooking, for both personal and business applications.

It’s a new day in Cherette, Haiti.

Pastor Bientot Salomon has written a letter of gratitude to the Estero UM Church. If you are a member of the Estero/Cherette eGroup, you can view this letter here. If you aren’t a member, send a blank email to estero-cherette-partnership-updates+subscribe@rminet.org to subscribe.

More pictures can be seen here.

Here is a video that Estero UMC put together early on in this process.

Amanda Biser’s latest prayer card

A new Ride for a Haitian Pastor…

A great option to encourage and equip a Haitian pastor is to provide a motorcycle for his church. The Haitians pastors are best able to minister to their communities when they are mobile.

In the picture you see, Pastor Guilluame is sitting on his brand new Honda 125 motorcycle. Pastor Guillaume is the pastor in Astruc, the Sister Church to The Orchard EFC in Arlington Heights, IL. Pastor Guillaume will now be able to much more efficiently and quickly visit Cayes for his ongoing Biblical seminary training, visit his people throughout the Astruc community, and visit the multiple other M.E.B.S.H. churches he oversees throughout the Astruc district as M.E.B.S.H. District Pastor.

A motorcycle is a ministry tool that expands the ministry horizons toward more effective ministry and service to the Haitian people.

Astruc Church and School… Dewormed!

Recently, The Orchard EFC paid for and initiated their second annual Deworming Clinic in their partnership community, Astruc, Haiti. RMI Pharmacist Becky Thompson, Nurse Denise Joseph (Benson’s wife), RMI Translator Marie France, and RMI Administrator Benjamin Altema completed this clinic. Every child and adult in the Astruc church and school received deworming meds. The Orchard EFC team will be arriving in Haiti in less than one week to do deworming clinics (among other things), including prevention training, to deworm 2 more communities in their Sister Church Partnership District.

According to Deworm the World, “Over 600 million school-age children are infected with parasitic worms. These infections are chronic and widespread, harming children’s health and development and limiting their participation in school. School-based deworming is universally recognized as a safe, simple and cost-effective solution. The benefits of school-based deworming are both immediate and enduring. Regular treatment can reduce school absenteeism by 25% and increase adult earnings by over 20%, and at a cost of less than 50 US cents per child per year.”

You can see more pictures here.

Our new prayer card for the new year!

4:53 p.m., January 12, 2010 will never be forgotten

A point in time that changed the history, landscape and the national psyche of Haiti. Today is the 2 year anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake that hit just to the southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Every Haitian was affected in some way, if not by losing family, friends, homes or jobs, then by being injured, or having to take in homeless family and/or friends. Having their governmental buildings and office destroyed, the places they shop, go to church, or school destroyed has irrevocably changed life as they knew it.

There are still over 500,000 living in tent cities. Just think of that! That’s the size of Lee County, where the RMI office is located. All those people still, 2 years later, living in tents. It is mind boggling to think of what it means to live like that for so long.

RMI is happy to be a bright spot in that sea of hopelessness through Homes for Haiti. Last year alone RMI built and provided 59 homes. But the work is not stopping there! Here are Facebook entries from 2 of RMI’s field missionaries posted just this week:

From Gary McLaughlin:

Thursday, Jan. 7: Starting Saturday we'll be building 4 homes in 5 days. Taking Sunday off to attend church at Picot with the Loomis Team. It's going to be a great week.

Saturday, Jan. 9: First house was finished today and the new owner is the retired pastor's daughter that was trapped under the rubble in Port-au-Prince for I think 9 days. I saw her are CNN news come out of the rubble, stand on top of the pile of broken blocks, put her arms in the air and praise God for sparing her life. She lives in the Simon area, right next to Citi Lumiere, where many missionaries live. It was a great day 1. One of 4 finished. Picot tomorrow for church service with the team.

Tuesday, Jan. 10: We'll be loading #4 home on the truck this morning and taking it to the site for assembly. Weather's been great and the team is strong and working hard. Hardest part of the job is holding Wilfred [Haitian contractor in charge of building the homes] back so the team can do the work. That's a good thing though, ah? Good day all.

Last of 4 homes finished by 12pm today. This afternoon we put in 5 bio water filter systems. Another great day in Haiti for us. Praise God!

Wednesday, Jan. 11: Up at 3:30 this morning and off to Les Anglais for kids pictures and to check on the three new classrooms OSLC [Our Savior’s Lutheran Church] had us put up for them. Going to be another great day with Marilyn, Benson, Merry Raymond and Marie France.

(Explaining his photo of the 3 classrooms) Three homes purchased for classrooms. Church took a wall out and made them wider. Not finished yet but first room had room for 39 kids. I was thinking they could do 18 or 24 depending on what class was in them.

(In response to a comment about the 3 classrooms built from the houses.) I was thinking they would be hot too when I first saw these homes but the opposite is the case. They are cooler inside than out. You can put this house in the direct sunlight all day and it's cooler inside than out. The roof is a reflective galvanized material and the walls are white painted aluminum.

From Becky Thompson:

Tuesday, Jan. 10: Nebraska team finished 4 houses in 2.5 days for earthquake displaced people. They are WAY ahead of schedule! So the rest of today and tomorrow morning they are installing biosand filters in people's homes and helping with some small projects around the mission center.

[Bio-sand filter is shown at one of the installations.]

Rebuilding Haiti is an agonizingly slow process. But we are there for the long haul! We have a committed cross-cultural team who feel called of God to continue to serve Him there. For the missionaries, this is their home. For the national staff, they are thrilled to be a moving force in helping their own country. They feel empowered to accomplish the tasks given them and work tirelessly. We are so thankful for this on-the-ground team!

Food for Haiti continues to meet the needs of hungry Haitians. Last year over 67 tons of food (822,672 Meals) were distributed and approximately 2600 children were provided with a daily hot lunch at school through the Hope for Kidz program. Plans are already made to distribute more in the coming months.

RMI leadership, Dan Shoemaker and Kim Rose, will be going to Haiti Jan 23 to 27. It will be a time of meeting with our missionaries and staff as we plan activities, etc. for this year. They will also be meeting the new president of MEBSH and his staff to introduce him to Kim and to begin a dialogue as to how RMI and MEBSH can continue to work hand in hand into the future. In addition, they will visit several businesses that RMI is interested in working with to create jobs in southern Haiti in some of the towns where we have Sister Church Partnerships.

At the end of their trip, they will be attending a one day conference in Port-au-Prince designed to bring non-profit agencies together with Haitian businesses. The goal is to better understand each other and to encourage more partnering together in buying supplies or services from the businesses instead of going outside of the Haitian community for these things. The conference is a part of a coalition of agencies that RMI is a part of called “Rebuilding Haiti”. This coalition is striving to see 100,000 jobs created in the next 10 years as well as leadership development and pastoral training.

Like we said, The work goes on! Pray for Haiti and the rebuilding efforts. Pray for RMI’s work there. Pray for our staff and the teams that are going to minister. We cannot do all that we are doing without your prayer involvement and without your financial involvement. You can donate online HERE.

Remember Haiti with us.

Larry Smith, former RMI Board Chairman, passes away

It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of former RMI Board Chairman, Larry Alvin Smith, of Lafayette, Louisiana on January 4, 2012. Larry was 63 and is survived by his dear wife, Kay, and 5 adult children, Ally, Jason, Becca, Jessie and Lizzie.

Larry was an entrepreneur, a businessman, a fabulous chef and host, a violinist, avid golfer and many other things. He was a charter member and elder of Trinity Bible Church for over 30 years. It was through Trinity’s involvement with RMI as a Sister Church that he first went to Haiti in the 1990’s. He fell in love with the Haitian people and he made sure that his next visit included his wife, Kay. Over the next 15 or so years they returned to visit their brothers and sisters in the Picot church numerous times. When there were school or church benches to be built, Larry joyfully grabbed the glue bottle and became the “Mighty GLUEMAN"!. The Picot people loved Larry as much as he loved them. Being a chef and from Louisiana, he wanted to share some of his homeland’s delicacies. He brought in sausage, bought local chicken and made gumbo for 75 people during one of his visits. Each year after that it grew, meaning he needed to bring in even more sausage. The team’s rallying cry each visit was “forget the luggage, but make SURE that sausage gets there!”. Every time the team arrived, the Haitians greeted Larry with cries of “GUM – BO!!!” Eventually they were feeding 700 people before they had to call it quits. To this day everyone in the area remembers Larry's Gumbo!

Larry joined the RMI Board in 1998 and became the Chairman in 2001. He served in that capacity until 2007 when, according to Board policy, he cycled off of the Board. His leadership and input for those 9 years were priceless. We appreciated his involvement with RMI over the years. His care and concern for RMI in general was amazing. We enjoyed Kay’s involvement with RMI as well. They were both a breath of fresh air. At one meeting Kay was unable to come with Larry. She missed it so much she made it known in no uncertain terms that she was to come with Larry each and every time, no matter what. Since he owned Acadiana Bottling Co., the Lafayette area’s Pepsi distributors, it became the unofficial drink of the RMI Board. Larry took his loyalty to Pepsi very seriously and wouldn’t tolerate a Coke product anywhere near him. We quickly learned that it was nothing to joke about. :)

For several years, Larry organized and hosted a golf tournament to benefit Hope for Kidz.

Larry and Kay were great friends with RMI President, Dan Shoemaker, his wife, Debbie, and their 2 children, Devon and Dawn, for almost 20 years. When they came home from Haiti and went through the Lafayette area during the summers, Larry and Kay hosted them in their home. He cooked and hosted gatherings with a flair, let the kids ride horses, fish in their pond, swim in the pool and generally made them feel like royalty. On one memorable occasion, Larry made arrangements for his family, the Shoemakers and several Trinity church friends to celebrate Devon’s birthday in his presidential suite in the Cajundome during a Charlie Daniels / Dave Mathews Band concert. He treated everyone to a fabulous catered meal and a gourmet birthday cake. Another year he treated them to an Elton John concert in the suite. He is the reason that Dan, Debbie, Devon and Dawn all love hot, spicy Cajun food. It was delightful when a foal was born during one of our visits, and Larry named it Dandee, after Dan. After one of his first visits to Haiti, he fell in love with Debbie’s Mango jelly. He took it home and had his lab formulate a mango drink from it.

Kay and Larry were a part of RMI’s DNA for many years and made an indelible impression on all of us. His care, compassion, smile, generosity, energy, zest for life and endless ideas of how to help RMI and his Haitian brothers and sisters will be greatly missed.

Dan Shoemaker and RMI founder, Herb Shoemaker, traveled to Lafayette for the funeral which took place at Trinity Bible Church on January 7, 2012. Larry’s obituary can be found HERE.

They make it look so easy…

Gary out on a trip with the Hope for Kidz team on their way to the Grand’Anse.

But months of hard work go into making the Hope for Kids program ready for a new school year. In fact, in October of every year, not too long after the current school year has gotten underway, the Hope for Kidz team starts gearing up for the next year. Marilyn McLaughlin, Merry Raymond, and Benson Joseph, the Hope for Kidz team, head out into the country side to get photos of each of the students. This year the team was also joined by Marie France Cherival and Perguens Hyppolite and an occasional visit by Gary McLaughlin as well.

The Paperwork:
Before photos are taken, each Haitian pastor receives a packet of applications for students to be selected for the following year. The number of applications is based on participation from the previous year, expected graduations at the end of the current year, a few additional applications as decided by the RMI field staff and any requests that the Sister church has made for additional students are also considered. Once these applications are completed by the pastors and turned into the Haiti Field office, the hard work begins.

The Pictures:
The Hope for Kidz staff makes appointments with all the churches to take the kids pictures; and then they hit the road. To locations within just a few hours of the mission center, day trips are made but for locations which are farther away, such as out in the Grand'Anse, a schedule is created which allows them to spend a few days out in the area, making visits at a different church each day. They pack their overnight bags, load up their camera equipment and head out. At the church, they set up an area that will be suitable to taking the photos. They hang the back drop (each year a new backdrop is chosen), set up the area and work with the pastor to get the children called in an orderly fashion. The RMI staffs have a list of all the kids that are to have their photos taken that day.

The team hard at work taking the students pictures.

Students waiting in the school yard to get their pictures taken and on-lookers curious as to what's going on.

One by one they are called. Two pictures of each student are taken; one with their ID number and Church location (for ID purposes) and one without the ID info for the student profiles. The staff work really hard and sometimes even do silly things to try and get the kids to smile for their profile pictures!

Marie France working with some of the students on their thank you letters.

After completing the pictures for the day, they enjoy a meal cooked by some of the ladies of the church. They then settle in for a good night’s sleep. Early the next morning they pack up, say their good-byes and head to the next location. This process begins in October and ends in January, once all the students’ pictures have been obtained.

The Process:
Once the team has gotten the students pictures, they begin the next step in the process. Information and updates on students are entered into the computer in order to begin creating the profiles for next year. The pictures are processed and matched to their sponsor profiles. Upon completion, profiles are sent out to their respective US church and then they wait for the magic to happen! (This is where all you amazing sponsors come in!) Though the profiles are completed the work is never done. Marilyn and Merry continue to process incoming payments, send payments to the schools, work on thank you letters, respond to emails and continuously update their records with information sent to them by the Pastors. Marie France and Perguens are also busy translating thank you letters that the kids have written to their sponsors. Benson stays busy maintaining contact with each of the schools and holding them accountable to the things they have been asked to do as part of the process as well as delivering food to the schools which participate in the Hot Meals Program. It’s a process that never ends.

So next time you walk past the table in your church lobby and see the picture of a student from Haiti (which may or may not be smiling- but trust us, we TRIED!) perhaps you’ll take a moment to remember that that child isn’t there by accident. He was chosen. And a team of individuals are working hard to make sure that he gets a chance to be known.

And maybe, just maybe, he was sent there just for you!

Good food, even better fellowship

Dec. 30 RMI’s US staff enjoyed their annual Christmas/New Year’s dinner on the Shoemaker’s lanai in Lehigh Acres, FL.

It was fun to relax together and just enjoy each other’s company! We had a gourmet meal of portobello mushroom stuffed, herb crusted Cornish hens prepared by our resident chef/president, Dan Shoemaker.

We won’t say who ate more than 1 whole hen!!

We were sorry that several folks were ill and unable to join us!

The rest of the pics can be seen HERE.